Brazil

ELOS INSTITUTE

FROM POWER TO PLAY

Most leaders believe that it’s their job to motivate people, that without their directive control, no work gets done. The most common way to motivate people is through external means, using punishment and reward. Experience Warriors Without Weapons, where play, not power, evokes people’s passion, creativity and motivation to work hard on seemingly overwhelming challenges.

Over the past decade, a new movement has emerged of people who fold newspapers into window blinds, craft CDs into lampshades, twist empty beer cans into earrings and weave the pop tabs into handbags. They are upcyclers, and they transform trash into treasure.

Remember that game we played in the Brazil chapter of Walk Out Walk On with the Warriors Without Weapons? An Oasis Game was recently hosted in Burrenbridge, Ireland, a small community of just a hundred houses. In two days, players cleaned up a vacant lot; built a football field, mountain bike course and natural play area; repaired a shed for a youth hang-out; constructed a potting shed and urban garden; and restored their butterfly garden.